Saturday, December 20, 2025

Age n' Agency

"Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make their own choices..."

If we consider agency a defining aspect of the human condition...

 

Administrative points:

1. The graph is unit-less, for discussion purposes only

2. One may sacrifice in one tier of agency to reach for the next, though influence as tiers are skipped is heavily diminished as foundationally each depends on the next. 

3. This is not a value conversation nor a suggestion that any progression [beyond the black line] is a necessary good.

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Consider the characteristics (and sacrifices inherent) of each levels influence, the people in your circle who fall into each, and where you hope to land.

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First, the black line

Slaves to their own emotions, without capacity to right a wrong or correct the sail on their own ship. Birth until death, blown on whatever winds come their way, without knowledge of the ships workings. Save your pity for the weak.

Second, the green line

Hopefully the starting point for most. Having figured out space-ship-you, self-knowledge can embrace luck or otherwise tack in the face of a head-wind. 

Third, the orange line

Commonly uncommon [depends on your bias and zip code]. Plugged in to the system is the only way profit is realized, and currency accumulated. Not just to maintain position on the treadmill, but enough to inch forward incrementally. Reinvestment, no longer just an option, but a quality of the present, building the train tracks just ahead as the train chugs forward. 

Fourth, the blue line

The first stage where your influence has started to outlive your own mortality. Your grandchildren may not remember your name, but [attribution suspended] they will feel the benefits of your legacy. Perhaps a connecting line should've been drawn up from the blue/yellow/green or black lines. 

With enough gravitas and power, agency is extended into one's relatives - your personal agency empowering and affecting theirs.

Fifth, the purple line

Again, non linearly, most will have agency affecting their community - positively or negatively - independent of their personal agency. A community is a sum of its individual parts. 

However, the grander degree of notable agency demonstrated in personal capacities will reflect on the degree of its blessings imparted to the community downstream

Sixth, the red line

Very few will have agency that can affect a global legacy, as it takes a tremendous amount of agency, luck, and [let's face it] generational exploitation to reach such a level. Consider your favorite neighborly technocrat trillionaire [USD].  

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Your mobility and relative agency in each level will wax and wane with a multitude of factors not discussed, notably including age and economic status. 

You don't pick your parents, don't rebel, make the best of your hand dealt as it was. 

Saturday, September 20, 2025

The Use of Illness

You're going to get sick. You're going to diminish; from a single sneeze, to a weekend wasting, to a wheelchair. 

Now that this is certain, what can one make of it?

A forced disruption of your routine can be an opportunity. Clarity can be sharpened by the dull vacuum of an illness. What is important to you? What can you stand to leave undone - what can you not? 

You can rage against the storm, and be battered mind, body, and soul with nothing to show for it.. or you can be remade.  

You can seek forgiveness. You can reach for love or family. You can search for your god.

As your unrestrained time washes away and is whittled down will you give a moments pause to reflect on your values? To choose again?

You had so much time for any and all pursuits before... now with mortality clarified, what will you do with that finite remainder? In abundance, urgency dissolves. But illness strips away the excess. 

Every illness is a chance to reach out. Don't forever fall back on your old ways.. next time embrace the opportunity for a cold, beautiful transformation.